


Nine Lives

by timothvdrake



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2018-12-11 07:52:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11710083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timothvdrake/pseuds/timothvdrake
Summary: When confronted with the idea that there is someone or something specifically targeting the heroes of Gotham Red Robin turns to Catwoman for help. He takes on the title of Catlad and together they try to uncover the mystery eating Gotham alive from the inside all while the Batfamily realizes Red Robin is missing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first public fanfic in around five years! I've never written any Batman fanfics prior to this one so some of the characters may be OOC and I'm trying to grasp how they think/talk so bare with me! This fic will be edited soon so you currently have it untouched. Hope you enjoy and leave a comment !

“I need your help.” Red Robin confessed, standing on the open balcony back facing the Gotham skylines. In front of him was Catwoman, Selina Kyle, wearing a lacy black nightgown glaring at him. She sat upright in the middle of her bed, jewery laid haphazardly around her. It was sudden for him to appear on her balcony this late into the night but he had been dwelling on the idea for over a day and decided to get it over with.

“Do you know the definition of privacy?” She sneered, collecting the jewelry in her hands and placed them on her bedside table. Turning her attention back at the silhouette in her balcony doorway she waited for him to repeat his request. Silence. 

“Little bird didn’t they tell you to never tease a cat?” Selina purred, crossing her legs on her bed. After another moment of silence “You’re serious?”.

“You have connections. I have connections.” He stated, crossing his arms.

“You have to work on your approach, you sound like Batman.” She rolled her eyes and laid back on her bed. She lifted her arm and motioned her hand in a circle to have him continue. 

“I have a suspicion there is someone trying to target you. You along with the rest of the heroes here in Gotham.”

“You’re the detective. Shouldn’t you go solve the mystery than let in a draft.” Red Robin let out a sigh of agitation and took a step forward into her apartment. Closing the balcony doors behind him Selina continued, “You believe I have something that will benefit you.”

“To begin you wouldn’t be the one to tell Batman that he had someone on his trail. You like the thrill of knowing what he doesn’t.” Red Robin raised an eyebrow at Selina who was nodding with a smirk on her face. “Tell me what I need to know Red,” Selina said rising off of her bed to look him in the eyes. It was a short briefing but it left Selina curious. Now if she wasn’t Catwoman the curiosity still would have killed her. Selina tapped her chin, humming softly.

“We have a deal.” She decided, running her hand against her sheets. “But first, you cannot go undercover wearing that, I heard Ra’s nearly killed you last time you went undercover.” After a few seconds of silence. “Oh please, you of all people should know how fast news spreads in Gotham.”

==

Tim wasn’t a fan of the tight black suit Selina had given him. It was uncomfortable and didn’t feel like it would be good protection in a fight. He would have to be quicker, stealthier to avoid any form of injury with the thin fabric. He stood in front of the tall mirror looking himself up and down. Next was the hoop zipper that looked a bit too desperate to look like Catwoman’s. He looked like he saw a photo of catwoman once and was determined to work underneath her. Well that’s what technically happened with him and Robin but this was different.

Selina loosely wrapped her arms around Tim’s neck, resting her head on her own arm.

“It suits you.” Selina smirked at him in the mirror. Tim shifted his focus to the table to his left, ignoring her comment. He picked up the gloves she left out for him and pulled them over his hands. They were fitted with claw like extensions sharpened to a point and then reached for his goggles. The lens were a mix between green and yellow different than Catwoman’s signature ruby lens. He did not want to have a long scratch across one of the lens on their first night out. 

“I rather us talk since we are going to work together.” Selina sighed, unhooking her arms from around Tim’s neck before collapsing on her bed. She let out another sigh as if to hurry up on getting his outfit on. 

“Remember Selina, this isn’t permanent.” Tim reminded her, tugging at the goggles that now hung around his neck. The final touch was the aviator cap that donned the iconic cat ears. Tim shook his head and put on the hat which was much less snug than the Red Robin cowl. When he looked up he met his own eyes, looking like a traitor to everything he knew. Two weeks ago he said a vague goodbye to Stephanie. She sat crisscross on a rooftop next to him commenting on his recent behavior. Hood drawn up around her face, golden curls framing her face. Occasionally her eyes would widen and let out a small laugh to a joke Tim doesn’t quite remember the punchline to. The wind would pick up and blow her hair right into her face momentarily making her blind but there was no threat. She would grudgingly pull the hair from her mouth and tell him wait till he gets long hair. “Nightwing had a mullet once,” Tim searched Stephanie’s face which had a confused stare “No really, I’m serious.” 

“Did he style it?” She asked, trying to make a mental image of Nightwing patrolling the streets with gorgeous locks. “Business up front, party in the back type look?”

“Oh yeah, definitely.” Tim nodded. He saw a few pictures of it when going through old case files. Until Dick’s motorcycle roared into the batcave one night and him proclaiming very loudly that Tim was the source of Jason’s blackmail pictures, he was sure of it. He didn’t deny it, both Jason and Barbara loved the late night texts of Nightwing’s old uniforms and hairstyles. 

“I need to see a picture of that, Alfred has to have one.” Stephanie said, clapping loudly next to Tim. Often they sat up against an old brick roof exit if patrol was slow. The smog above the city rolled by slowly, patches opening to allow moonlight to illuminate old billboards. She talked about her recent run-ins which included sound effects and live-action demonstrations. After she finished demonstrating how she took down a group of thugs she collapsed next to him again, letting out a huff. Live-action demonstrations made her winded but she was fine on the field, another conspiracy theory of the family. 

“Tim?” Stephanie put a hand on his shoulder prompting him to turn to her. “Are you okay? Okay really dumb question for you but seriously anything bugging you?”. Of course there was so much he wanted to tell her. Tell her about his most recent case that has been suspiciously been connecting to each of his acquaintances and family. He managed a shrug turning his gaze back towards Gotham’s skyline. There was silence between the two of them, the constant wail of sirens in the distance and honking of cars was there to remind him he was still there. Still grounded. Stephanie’s hand left his shoulder and ruffled his hair instead.

“I say we go get some waffles, night is pretty slow, Batman and Baby Batman are out tonight too, and I don’t know when was the last time you ate” Stephanie got up and patted down her legs to get rid of any dirt that managed to cling to her outfit “...and I’m so not counting the times you told me you did.” She added sticking out her hand to help Tim up even though she knew he was more than capable of getting up on his own. He accepted, grabbing Stephanie’s hand hoisting himself upwards to his feet. 

“I have work to do but enjoy the waffles.” Tim announced, unclipping his grappling hook from his belt. Stephanie looked like she was about to interject but he turned his attention to a nearby high rise and shot the grappling hook. He heard Stephanie mumble something but it was lost when the wind picked up. He hates how he left her. How she looked like she was about to stop him but just accepted because he does it all the time. What makes a difference now?

There was a huff and Selina was sitting upward. She peered over his shoulder to get a look at his face with the help of the mirror. He clicked the aviators cap around his chin and turned on his heel to meet her stare. Instead her face twisted and she motioned him to come over to the bed.

“This is a no.” She admitted, reaching up to unhook the clip of the aviators cap, letting the straps dangle on each side of his head. She nodded in approval and then fixed his hair so it stuck out from under the cap. Surveying his outfit she made a pleased hum before tugging on his goggles around his neck “I need to get you one more thing” Selina pointed out rising off of her bed. Tim mumbled along the lines of the weapon not being lethal.

“Of course Kitten.” Selina said, back turned. She opened her closet and rummaged around a bit before pulling a whip from its depths. It was solid black and wrapped around itself to save space. “It’s only lethal if you want it too.”

“We agreed on Catlad. I’m not going to have Kitten plastered on every report I will have to fix after all this. The Bat Computer already has an inexcusable search history because our our cases.” Tim reached forward and accepted the whip from Selina. 

“Batman. Batcomputer. Batcar. Does he have anything not with bat attached?” Selina scoffed, pulling her hood over her head. 

“Not anymore.” Tim said hooking the whip securely around his waist.

“I like your style.” Selina paused from touching up her lipstick to laugh. For a first time in awhile, it was genuine.


	2. Chapter Two: Museum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait! i've been preparing for the recent hurricane but wanted to at least update before i lose power! i will edit this in the morning and most likely fix a few sections but for now my update thats picking up the story :-)
> 
> Hope you enjoy and leave a comment !

Their first patrol wasn’t until a few days later after they both agreed that the sudden appearance of Catlad the night Red Robin went dark would bring suspicion. Occasionally he would patrol donning Catlad to take down some petty criminals but mostly returned to the apartment after a few hours. Never staying out long enough to catch the attention of the others.

Tim scrunched up his face as he peeled back the last of the wet cat food cans before flipping them upside down onto the paper plates. Several cats brushed up against his legs, tails wrapping around his calves waiting for him to place the plates on the ground. When the cats were fed all Tim had to do was hop over them without slipping on Selina’s tiled kitchen floor. Happily eating the cats ignored Tim making his way over to his setup on Selina’s couch. He tucked his legs up under him and pulled the laptop closer to him resuming his research. Research on absolutely no plausible evidence. It was a few hours until Selina returned from patrol, perhaps he could find something, anything to help further this case.

“Look what I found.” Catwoman announced, peeking her head through the balcony doors and shook a small, white bag. “More jewels we’ll return after all this?” Tim replied from the living room.

Catwoman brought her goggles up to her forehead. “You’re no fun you know that?” 

She tossed the small bag on the bed, watching the contents spill out on the sheets and shine in the dim lighting. There was a coldness that lingered in the air. It was freezing in the apartment. With the balcony doors shut she walked over towards her bedroom door and peeked out at Tim on the couch. His messy hair had been pulled back in a ponytail and was wearing an oversized red sweater that he most likely found in her closet. On his lap was his computer that had an elaborate setup that would be a headache to put away after all this.

“You know if you’re cold you can turn up the A.C.” Selina said, tapping furiously on the warm button. It was too damn cold even for her liking. She stole another glance in his direction and watched him rub his face with his sleeves before slipping back into her bedroom.

“I’m used to it down in the cave.” Tim said from the other room.

“Yeah well don’t catch a cold, this isn’t the Iceberg Lounge.” Selina shuddered pulling off her suit. She stepped out of it and grabbed her robe that was draped over her open dresser door. Kid didn’t even bother to cover his tracks, she even knew with hanger he took it from because it stuck out from all the rest. Tying the robe tightly around her she made he way back out to the kitchen, grabbed the bowl of sliced strawberries she left in the fridge before making her way over to the couch. She sat down and watched Tim reach out to steady the laptop that started to teeter. 

“Any leads?” She asked after a long moment of silence.

“No.” He said throwing his head back against the couch cushion seemingly frustrated. 

“Did you come to me on a hunch?”

“If I said yes would you kick me out?” Tim smirked. She let out a hum and ran her hand through her hair.

“Tomorrow I have a heist in mind and I think it’s time for you to make your debut.” Selina popped another strawberry slice in her mouth before setting the bowl next to Tim. “With me I mean.” She got up from the couch and stretched her arms in the air letting out a small yawn. Clicking off the lights on her way to her bedroom she noted how he didn’t bother moving to get ready for bed. He just extended his hand to idly pet the fluffy orange cat that hopped up next to him. Closing the door to her bedroom she forgot to thank him for feeding the cats even though she didn’t ask him to. She’ll try to remember in the morning.

\--

“He hasn’t even contacted me. The last time I saw him was when he stood me up for some breakfast, which was rude but you know.” Stephanie nodded before looking through her binoculars again. There was nothing out of the ordinary. To her knowledge, the only people on patrol that night besides herself was Nightwing, who was irritably pacing behind her, and Batman. 

“I just don’t get it. He’s been in contact with me, well not talking, or messaging, or anything really. Is he actually in contact with me?” Nightwing babbled, before taking a seat on the brick, back against the road below. Spoiler turned to him, binoculars still against her face.

“Did you really have a mullet?” Big blue eyes blinked at Nightwing through the lens.

“Spoiler…” He began.

“I’m trying to lighten the mood but I’m still curious.” Spoiler shrugged, pocketing the binoculars. “We’ve been out here for two nights and no sign of Catwoman’s newest littermate.” They could guess they were either a fan or a protege, who else would willingly wear cat ears like that?

“Hey O, anything new on the feeds?” Nightwing asked openly, trying to hide his smile from Spoiler. 

“Besides two heroes lounging on a rooftop? Everything appears to be silent.” Oracle’s voice was loud and clear through the comms.

Nightwing ran a hand through his hair with a sigh and hop up off of the brick barrier. For once it was slow, the occasional muggings and attempted robberies were taken down quickly which left more than enough time to investigate the new vigilante. It seemed tedious to follow yet another person donning a costume and claiming to protect (or terrorize) the citizens of Gotham. This one however, was different. More skilled. Under the guidance of Catwoman no less. 

He was angry at himself for not keeping in contact with Tim when he was in Bludhaven. He got so wrapped up in his own business he didn’t even to think to reach out to check out how he was doing. Damian always seemed to ask about him to Bruce so he got updates on Damian’s antics while he was away. They were short, blunt updates but nonetheless Damian was sure to enlighten him of his own accomplishments when he visited town again. 

“The silent alarms just triggered at Gotham Natural History Museum. I suggest you two to check it out. They recently updated their egyptian section.” Oracle announced.

\--

“I didn’t think the museum would be our first heist.” Catlad hissed, securing the bag to his waist. “You know this place has silent alarms.” They already had to take down several security guards so Catwoman could just waltz into the egyptian section like nobody's business.

“Makes it fun.” Catwoman dismissed with a wave of her hand, bagging a beautiful opal that she snagged from one of the smaller displays. “Besides you’re a seasoned vet, go big or go home.”

“We’re being watched.” Catlad said bluntly, scanning around him. He caught a small glimpse of purple from the building adjacent to then and squinted. There was no movement following the quick flash of purple and he continued to turn his attention back towards Catwoman who had her hands on her hips.

It could have been Huntress, but she hasn’t been seen in Gotham as of late. If she was then she would be out with the Birds of Prey. His best bet was Spoiler. Curious of the new face jumping across Gotham’s rooftops and this time they weren’t going to get close enough to be friends.

“Spoiler is on the roof next to us.” Catlad dropped his voice “I suspect she’s not alone, normally she would have already engaged if it was just one of us but something's stopping her.”

“The babysitter. Typical.” Catwoman let out a small laugh before she reached for her whip “Time to claim your baggage.”

“The moment they get close enough they’re going to try like hell to figure me out.” Catlad called out watching the two figures rise from their spots on the other roof. “Our best bet is to run, the two of them -”.

“Go to the antique jewelry store on 5th I’ll meet you there.” Catwoman interjected, cracking her whip on the ground. Catlad nodded before turning away from Catwoman to break into a short sprint, hopping the short wall, and landed on the fire escape that whined under his weight. He couldn’t take the rooftops, not yet, not while they were up there. He never took orders that quickly, he always felt a need to hesitate just for a second when Batman would direct him somewhere. Quite honestly he hated it. They were a team, equals, and he just ran from her to ensure his own safety. However he had to realize she wanted him as a sidekick if they were going to work together, he would run the mission beneath her.

His calves burned. He never realized how far the antique store was from the museum. No wonder Catwoman invested in a motorcycle and everyone had grappling hooks. This whole mission was a mistake he should have just done this himself. Then he wouldn’t be running in a cat costume down the streets of Gotham trying to outrun a grown man in stripes and a teenager who looked like a Dungeon and Dragons character.

When he finally reached the antique store he climbed the brick wall to reach the roof. He look a quick look around before slipping inside through the buildings air vent. It was quiet in the store. Making his way around he took note of the possible exits, front door most likely had an alarm and same with the back door. He could exit the same way he came in but that would mean he would have to push himself upward through a tight vent, not making a quick escape easy. He let out an agitated sigh and squeezed the bridge of his nose. Sooner or later Selina would show up and they could get the heck out of here. He’ll just wait in this poorly lit old antique shop and admire all the jewelry that the owners tried to protect behind thin glass.

There was several different displays around the store. Each were marked with the individual prices and gemstones used. Some were fairly overpriced and were probably fake no less. It didn’t take long for him to notice the atmosphere changed as he walked around.

“Well isn’t this a purrdicament.” Catlad’s mouth tugged into a smile, turning towards the newest shadow of the jewelry store. If Nightwing was here there would be more puns than necessary. 

“You’re coming with me.” Spoiler sneered, getting into a better fighting stance.

“Yeesh, take me on a date first.” Catlad rolled his eyes. He reached for the whip on his side and let it send out a loud snap when it connected with the floor. It snapped again and connected to Spoiler’s wrist wrapping around it tightly.

“Shouldn’t this be kept in the bedroom Kitten?” Spoiler cocked her head to the side before pulling her wrist towards her. He used the momentum and launched himself onto Spoiler directly.

“Pet names. Seriously?” Different than what he normally does but he had to keep his style unexpected. She let out a grunt when they connected the metal display table. It moaned under the unexpected weight of the two of them. Catlad pushed off of her and recollected his whip preparing to snap it again. Instead Spoiler reached out grabbing a necklace display that was to her right and connected it to the side of Catlad’s head. He reeled back and she took her chance diving towards him. The glass display behind him shattered and sent them both sprawling onto the floor. Surrounding them was pearl necklaces and dulled gold bracelets. Fake. Imperfect. His vision swam and again he reached for his whip that fell haphazardly next to him.

“This would have looked great on your resume.” Spoiler pointed out, now standing above him. How quickly was she able to get back up? Or how long did he spend regaining his nerves. She turned her head and began speaking. “Nightwing, I found Catlad. I’m at the old jewelry store on 5th Avenue.” 

“Yeah it will be.” Catlad spat, pulling his whip back. At this angle it was going to be tricky and the glass crunched under his boot when he tried getting up. Catlad sent out his whip which wrapped around her neck and he pulled her to the ground cutting off whatever she was saying to Nightwing. Her hands flew to her neck and clawed at the whip, he applied a bit more pressure and she passed out. He let out the breath he was holding and unwrapped the whip from around her neck. He holstered the weapon and reached forward to grab the comms device from her ear. 

“No spoilers Nightwing.” He crushed the device under his boot and adjusted his goggles.

Catwoman wasn’t on the roof when he made it out of the antique store. Nor on the buildings surrounding it. It was possibly that she would have been apprehended by Nightwing, she always seemed to be able to evade conversation by means unknown to him. A skill he would love to know when trying to get out of one of Batman’s famous ‘pep’ talks. His head throbbed. He was going to take the long way back to the apartment to ensure he wasn’t being followed. 

Catlad hit the next rooftop running. The suit Selina had given him made him more agile with the expense of not knowing that the suit was less shock absorbent. He cursed under his breath when he jumped to the next building but fell short. His hands flew out and caught himself on the fire escape fence which shook with sudden weight. Each rooftop seemed to merge into the same layout. A fire escape, an air conditioning unit, and one vigilante hopping off its side to get to the next. 

There was something on the rooftop he was nearing. It seemed to be in the shape of a person standing with their arms outstretched. They weren’t moving. As he neared long hair was blowing in the cool air and they were facing away from him. 

“Are you okay?” He called out. His heart thudded with the thought of someone about to jump sideways off a building to the street below. He approached slowly and carefully. “Hey, we can talk. I won’t force you or -” he rounded the figure before stopping short.

There was blood. There propped was There were cuts across her throat and small incisions on her face. There was no smile but there was dried blood on the side of her mouth. He forced his eyes shut. When he opened them again he stared into two pale blue eyes. It was Stephanie. Or someone who looked like Stephanie. Stringy blonde hair fell around her face. Across the girl’s chest were deep cuts to resemble the bat symbol. Attached to her head by what appeared to be screws were two long, black pieces of metal. Giving her the resemblance of having bat ears. 

He found his lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there was probably a good handful of things that will need to be fixed in the morning but nonetheless hope you enjoyed!  
> leave a comment, kudos, or prayers for my sanity with my family.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated !!!  
> I have a few chapters already planned ahead so I hope you enjoy ! I have missed this series :-)

It was just a body. Just a body dressed as a friend.

He ran a gloved hand down his face taking a step away from the body propped up. He felt so numb, was it because it closely resembled someone he was connected to? There was too many questions to be answers. He hated the idea that he was right someone was targeting Gotham’s heroes but never would have expected it to be foreshadowed through a corpse dressed as one of them. The girl on display was young, early twenties possibly, and probably had a hell of a future in front of her.  
Hands clenched, he took another look at the body. The resemblance was eerie.

Her blonde hair was parted in thick curls that rested past her shoulders and her icy blue eyes bored in to his. Her lips were slightly parted as if she took a breath but forgot to breathe out. He had to inspect her quickly incase Stephanie was right behind him. If she saw this would she think he did it? Looking at a dead look-alike was definitely not on her bucket list. It would be easier to report this if he was casually standing in as Red Robin but now he was Catlad and his only connection was Catwoman.  
He took notes and photographs. 

“Damnit.” He muttered, turning away from her supported frame. He bent over and gathered up the white fabric that had fallen around her feet. He would at least cover her up.

\--

“I couldn’t just walk into the Batcave and say ‘Oh excuse me, just a masked vigilante coming through to test some evidence.” Tim announced in an irritated tone, dramatically strolling back to the vanity . Selina crossed in front of him and crossed her arms.

“I have –“ She began.

“Yeah, well, you have this fling with Bruce so -“ Tim muttered under his breath and opened his laptop. He began typing.

“And you wouldn’t be so worked up if this was some low class murder.” His fingers paused over the keyboard.

“Low class? Selina, murder isn’t some petty game criminals play to try and oneup each other.” He shook his head exasperated, “Don’t answer that.”

“It was a girl, young, maybe early twenties? I thought she was going to jump but when I approached her she was propped up like some kind of puppet. She was, no, looked like Spoiler right down to the light freckles on her nose. It wasn’t a clone though, I know clones, but it was like whoever did this selected their victim according to his/her physical appearances.” Tim explained typing a few keywords into his report. “I took photographs.”

“So it was a girl that looked like your ex-girlfriend.” Selina leaned over Tim’s shoulder extending her hand to rest on the makeshift desk that used to be her vanity. After deciding to move his terrible set-up off the couch to her vanity the cats were able to lay comfortably without the bulky laptop in their way. When he entered through the balcony he gave her a god-awful scowl but still took his seat to begin typing. Not even out of his costume yet.

“They carved the bat symbol in the victim’s chest and attached to her head was two thin, black pieces of metal that gave her bat ears.” Tim pointed out, tapping the right arrow to scroll through the pictures. “Bruising around her neck shows signs that she was strangled, similar bruising was seen on her wrists and ankles. She was restrained presumably..."

“She looks kind of familiar, then again, all pretty blondes look like her.” Selina squinted at the screen when he stopped on a picture of her face.  
“I got fingerprints off of her left hand.” Tim tapped a few buttons and pulled up a news article. “Rebecca Nicholson, worked at a bakery in Norfolk, Virginia…” He paused racking his brain for for more small information. Selina bent forward to get a better look at the news article he stopped on. It was the victim standing in front of a bakery with a huge gaudy sign reading ‘Grand Opening!’ in painted purple lettering. “She wasn’t reported missing. Only child, no past misconduct, and was enrolled to attend Norfolk College under the degree of nursing. By the bruising around her throat it was recent. Estimating two days at least.”

“What did you do with the body?” She asked.

“I left it for the time being, if I reported it to the GCPD then I know that evidence goes straight into Commissioner Gordon’s hands and from there, Batman’s.”

“So you left this body, perched on a rooftop, because big bad Batman might swoop in and take your case?” Selina faked a pout and reached around him to press the next arrow. It displayed her full body, the symbol of the bat bloodily scratched into her chest. 

“Did you want me to bring her here?” Tim bluntly asked, propping his chin up on his hand. 

No. She was not ready to haul ass a dead body across rooftops and into her apartment. She chose jewelry for a reason, besides the beautiful detail and lovely prices on the market, it was light weight. Not one hundred and forty pounds of regret and silent bickering because her colleague would be picking apart the scene rather than give a piggyback to a girl that looks eerily like his ex. 

After what it seemed satisfying silence Tim nodded and resumed typing up his mock report. 

It was two more days until word got around that there was another body propped up on one of Gotham’s many buildings. 

 

\--

“Tim.” Selina whispered, hovering over Tim’s slim frame draped over the fold out chair. He was asleep. “Tim.” She said again with a bit more force.

“What,” Tim blinked at the ceiling before settling on Selina’s red goggles. “Why are you wearing those in the apartment?” 

“I’m going out. There is leftover chinese in the fridge. I left money in the bowl to go do the laundry. I’ll be back around four.”

“Do you want me to go with?” Tim asked, rubbing his eyes. He gathered himself back into the chair and pushed himself away from the vanity. “What time is it anyways.”

“It’s…” Selina leaned forward to shake the computer mouse. “10:33pm and no, do the laundry and eat something I’m going to investigate the museum.” Tim let out a breath between a laugh and a sigh because her definition of investigate was to browse the new exhibits. He shrugged and waved her on tiredly. He watched Selina open the balcony doors and the cool, brisk air slowly crawled its way into the apartment by the sudden gesture. To avoid the breeze Tim brought up his feet by pulling his knees towards his chest. She stood there, silent. He watched her silhouette pull her goggles off her head and onto her face before stepping up onto the balcony ledge. 

"Don't be stupid." She said before diving off the concrete barrier. 

He let out a long yawn, throwing his arms above his head to stretch backwards in the kitchen chair Selina dragged in a few nights ago. Apparently falling asleep on a chair that offers no proper back support can really strain your lower back. Slowly he got up from the vanity, pushed forward his chair, and closed the balcony doors. The cool air from outside lingered and Tim shuffled over to where some of his civilian clothes were laid out. He got dressed despite not needing to, nobody would judge him in the laundry mat if he wore an oversized t-shirt, well maybe the old lady that had been waiting since seven for her clothes to dry, but still. 

Selina did say that there was leftovers and she wasn’t lying. He was able to snag a box of leftover lo mein and grabbed a set of Selina’s wooden chopsticks. Why she had them laying around he didn’t bother to question. The laundry mat was going to close at two am which is an odd time for anybody to lived outside of Gotham and if he checked the stove clock it was eleven already so he had roughly three hours to kill in a laundry mat. Thanks Selina. Not like we are working on a case or anything. 

He checked himself in the mirror and adjusted his beanie. He finally understood what Dick meant about putting effort into his appearance because he looked like a mess. He wore a tucked in short blue sleeved shirt in some black oversized sweatpants he inherited from Jason. The beanie didn’t help the ‘help my step-mom is forcing me to do laundry than homework’ look. Wait... is Selina his step-mom? Tim shrugged because he didn’t know if they were taking a break or they were about to elope that very second. He grabbed the apartment keys from the bowl and picked up the bag of laundry she had by the door. For a rich apartment she sure was humble to go to the laundry mat to wash her clothes. Or she might just be forcing him out of the apartment and has it hiding behind some big safe with diamonds and jewelry. He heaved the bag of laundry over his shoulder and awkwardly fumbled out of the apartment locking it behind him.

 

\--

“Catwoman.” A voice behind her said impatiently. She turned to face the Big Bad Bat everyone always is frightened of. “We need to talk.”

“Oh please B,” she smiled, melting into the gloved hand that rose to cup her cheek before she pulled away suddenly, “never a man of flattery.” The grim look on his face stayed and she turned her back to him. She surveyed the city skylines before here. Some were dim while others were brightly lit and flashing. Gaudy. Keep your consistency Gotham. She would have guessed he left by now but turning her head slightly back she still saw him standing there like her shadow. “Never the type to stay either. Whatever happened to hard to get?”

“Selina.” He said now, more force behind her name.

“Hm?” She hummed, folding her arms. She continued to overlook the skyline waiting for him to muster up something to say to her. 

“There has been multiple murders. There is a possibility you could be targeted.” He said gruffly. He placed his gloved hand on her shoulder which made her turn to meet his eyes. “I already have suspicions that Red Robin is currently involved in it. He hasn’t been on patrol in two weeks and there has been no sightings.”

“B…” Selina began but he withdrew his hand. He left quickly afterwards. She heard the grapple gun deploy and his cape against the wind. Standing there she rubbed her hands up her arms and sighed. She ran her hand over her shoulder before stopping on a small device embedded into the fabric. With a slice of her clawed gloves the device hit the concrete top of the roof. Never the one to stay but always the one to follow. 

\--

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed and leave a comment about anything you want ! I've been thinking about this scenario that Tim has to go undercover as Catlad than it being an alternate universe without him ever being Robin and Red Robin !


End file.
